Hundreds of residents and holiday-makers have been ordered to evacuate Australia’s temperate Snowy Mountains region in the state of New South Wales as fierce fires threaten from two sides, authorities said on Thursday. The order covers the Kosciuszko National Park, a near 7,000 square km (2,700 square mile) area popular for snow sports in winter, requiring hotels and other businesses to close and people to leave by Friday morning. “This is not a fire season that New South Wales has seen before,” the state’s National Parks and Wildlife Service said on Thursday. “It is hotter and drier than we have previously experienced.” The mountain area is located 200 km (125 miles) inland from a mass exodus occurring along Australia’s south-east coast where fires fueled by extreme temperatures are decimating small towns. Huge bushfires have been burning for weeks across Australia, with new blazes sparked into life […]